Oil-burner-control mechanism



May T7., 1927. Y -LZQ E. L. WELLS A OIL'BURNER f CONTROL MEcHANIsM Filed May 2i.. 192e z sheets-sheet 1 EL. WELLS l OIL BURNER `GONTROL MECHANISM l Filed-May 21,' 192s a, swam-smet 2 Patented May 17, i 1927.

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EDWARI) L. WELLS, OF MACOMB, ILLINOIS,`ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN STEL PRODUCTS I (JO., 0F MAGOMB,

ILLINOIS, A coRPonATioN or anuncis.-

oIL-Buimnmcoufraor. MEGHANISM.

Application led May 21, 1926.v Serial No. 110,666.

My invention. relates to oil onsuming heaters of the genera-l class in vhich the height ot the ame is controlled by a change in height of the level of oil in an oil supply 6 Well With respect to the wick-of a burner connected to this well.

When such oil closures, it is often well located outside burners are used within en! desirable to have the oil of this enclosure, therel0 by permitting both,` a replenishing of the oil supply and an adjusting of the height of the flame without admitting an undesirable amount of air intov the enclosure. For eX- ample, in `a chicken brooder heated by an 15 oil burner, any opening of the usual curtaining on the brooder hood would expose the delicate chicks to drafts, so'that it is highly desirable to have an arrangement whereby the height ot the flame in the oil burner can Z0 be controlled from outside the brooder hood. An eective arrangement for this purpose was shown in the Landgraf Patent No. 1,531,236 of May 24, 1925, in which the oil Jfont of the burner is connected by a sub- 15 stantially U-shaped pipe to the bottom ot the oil well, this oil well being disposed outside of the brooder hood and supported by -a cam-ring which can be moved so as to raise orlower the oil well. 'While this arrangement affords a. convenient. control for the level of the oil at. the burner and serves nicely for adjusting the initial height of the burner flame, further adjustments are needed to prevent an undue heating ot the air under the brooder hood, thereby requiring the services of a vigilant atteinlant.

My present invention aims to provide an arrangement whereby the edective height ot the oil in the font of the burner will be readjusted automatically in response tovariations in temperature within the brooder hood, thereby eliminating the need of all attention (after the burner is lit and the oil supply well is initially adjusted in height) except for replenishing the supply of oil to the oil well.

Generally speaking, I accomplish this purpose by supporting the oil burner so that its height is regulated by a thermostat under 50 the brooder hood, and by arranging this au- 'bodying my invention, with .a supply of oil is 4tomatic control so that itwill not interfere. with a manual regulation of the height of i thvoil supply well. In the drawings,

and longitudinal section through an automatically regulated oil-burning broeder ernand thermostatic regulatorin elevation.

Fig. 2 is a plan View of the same. Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section taken valong the line 3-3 ot Fig. 2.

F ig. 4 1s asection similar to the`righthand portionof Fig. 1 but showingithe cam' ring and the lower part of `the oil container in elevation.

.In the illustrated hood (or hover) legs 2, houses an upright drum 3 provided with perforations 4 through which air can enter the drum. An inverted channel 5 rigidly connects this drum With a second upright drum 6 disposed routside the brooder hood, and this outer drum 6 carries pins 7 projecting radially into ity for supporting a cam-ring 8. yThis ring in turn supports the iange of a cup-shaped oil well 9 in which maintained 'by an inverted oil jar 1() which is supported by the mouth of the saidoil well. i

The bottom of the oil well 9 opens into one shank of a substantially U-shaped oil pipe 1() which extends through the channel 5 and which has its other shank connected. to the bottoni of the oil font 11 of the oil burner, thereby supplying oil to a wick l2. The oil font 11, which supports the usual annular-ly partitioned draft'chamber 12, is mounted so that it can rock on a pivoting axis transverse of the axis of the channel 5, thereby permitting-a raising and lowering ot the oil well 9 without materially bending the oil pipe or straini Athis pipe to the burner.

To permita I provide means whereby the A'therinostat controls the heightof this. pivoting axis. For that purpose, I am showing a rigidstem 13 depending from the burner to'nt 11 and connected to one arm of a lever 1.4 by a pi 15 which affords the said pivoting brooder, the brooder 1 is a fragmentary central, vertical" e oil burner i l, which is supported by ng thev connection ot' Y thermostatic regulation also,

axis. The lever 14 is pivoted on a stationary support in the form of a riser 16 on a base. piece 17 securedto the .drum 3 by screws 18 which also fasten a bracket 19 to the O utslde of this drum. The other arm of latter to pivot on the nut of the bolt.

Interposed between the said bracket and the 'control arm are thermally expansive means for moving this arm so as to move the lever 14 in one ,-direction, namely agailst the action oyf gravity which causes the weight of the-oil burner to overbalance the weight of the control arm 21 and hence tends to lower the burner and vto raise the control arm. To secure a powerful action, I desirably employ two socalled thermostatic wafers for this purpose, placing them side by side as shown in Fig. 2, each wafer being a'sealed metal chamber 23 containing ether or the like and having a stem 24 projecting through rthe control arm to prevent a lateral shifting of the position of the wafer. Then I initially adjust the bolt 22 so that the weight of the burner only slightly overbalances the downward pull of the link 20, thereby making the control sensitive.

When the heater is not operating, the cam# ring 8 is in its lowermost position of Figs. 1 and 4, so as to bring the level of the oil 26 in the well 9 below the bottom of the Wick in the burner font. In starting the burner, the cam-ring is rotated to raise the oil well 9,

.thereby raising the level of the oil correspondingly in the burner font 11 so that the wickcan be lit, and the cam-ring is thenadjusted in position to provide the desired maximum height of the flame.

When the air under the brooder hood (or hover) 1 warms up, the evaporation of the ether in the thermostatic wafers expands these wafers, so that-they rock the control arm 21 about the nut of the bolt 22 and to pull the link 2() downward, thereby causing the lever 14 to raise the burner so as to reduce the extent to which the wick dips into the oil. This decreases the heating and, as

the temperature of the air under the hood -falls, the pressure within the thermostatic wafers is reduced lso that the prepondering W'eiht of the burner: lowers the latter agalnst the resistance ot the downward pressure of the thermos'tatic wafers on the control arm. By suitably adjusting the bolt 22,

Y I can readily `make the resulting regulation so sensitive as to'maintain a Substantially uniform temperature under the lbrooder` y hood. Hence the only attendance required is the manipulating of the cam-ring (which 'Ill To prevent anundue compressingvof the i thermostatic wafers, IA desirably provide a stop for limiting the ldownward movement of the burner, such as a4 stop bracket 27 bolted to the drum 3 and having an upper horizontal portion 27A adapted to engage -some part-rigidly associated with the burner, such as the upper end 13A of the stem 13 which is fastened to the burner. However, I do not wish to be`limited to this or other details of the construction and arrangement above disclosed, as many changes 'might obviously be made without departing either from the spirit of my invention or from the appended claims. Nor do I lwish to be limited to the use of with a brooder.

Neither do I wish to be limited to the illustrated cam-ring arrangement for controlling the height of the oil inthe oil well (or my invention in connection e'ectilve oil supply,) or even to the inclusion of any means for varying this height, since my novel thermostatic control will obviously Iafford the needed automatic regulation if the level of oil at this supply well is stationary at a suitable height.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an oil-burning heater, a burner, a supporting element upon which the burner is pivoted, an oil supply connected to the burner, means for raising and lowering the oil supply with respect to the burner, and thermostatic means for regulating the height at which the pivoting portion .of the supporting element is disposed.

2. A heater assembly as per claim 1,.in combination with means for limiting the downward movement of the burner.

3. In an oil-burning heater, a burner, a lever supporting the burner, an oil supply connected 'to the burner, manually operable means for raising and lowering the oil sup-' ply with respect to the burner, and thermostatic means for moving the lever so as to raise or lower the burner'without varying the height of the oil supply.

4. In an loil-burning heater, a lever, a burner pivoted on one arm of the lever, a constant level supply connected to the burner, manually operable means for varying the height of the oil supply relative to the burner, a thermally expansive memberwand means connecting the said member with the lever to raise the iirst named arln of the lever with a rise in temperature ,of the thermally expansive member. i

5. In an oil heater, .a stationary pivot base, a lever pivoted thereon, a stationary arm, a movable arm adjacent to the station- 'ary arm, a/tbermall ez'zpansble member .inoi/1 duct connecting the oil vsupply with lie terposed between' t e two arms, operatmg burner, and means for varying the height` means 'eonnectngthe movable arm with the of' the oil supply Without-varying the height 10 lever, a burner supported bythe lever, the at which the burner '1s"disposed. f lever being arranged so es to raise l.the burner .Signed at Macomb, I11inos5 Apriltvvent'ywhen the expansion of the seid member. eighth, 1926 .v A moves the movable arm5 an oilsupply, an Y EDWARDL. WELLS. 

